Who Are You When the Big Prize Is Gone?

Congratulations to Spain on winning the 2026 World Cup, a well-earned, undefeated run capped by a 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina. 

But the game I can't stop thinking about isn't the final. It's the third-place match. A lot of people think that game shouldn't exist. Why make two teams that just had their championship dreams crushed play again, for a trophy nobody remembers?

 But there is a powerful lesson in how true success is created from what looks like a less worthy position. 

 Here is what happened and what I learned. France vs. England gave us one of the best matches of the entire tournament, a 6-4 thriller, the most goals in a World Cup game since 1982.

 England came out firing, up 4-0 at halftime. France, playing for a medal nobody was supposed to care about, refused to fold. 

 They clawed back to 4-3. Bukayo Saka completed his hat-trick to push England ahead again, and then Jude Bellingham found the net. His seventh goal of the tournament is a new single-World Cup record for an England player.

 Kylian Mbappé, playing in a match with no trophy on the line, scored twice to become the first player in World Cup history to win the Golden Boot in two different tournaments and the competition's all-time leading scorer.

 None of that happened in the final. It happened in the game that everyone said didn't matter.

Here's the lesson. There is always one grand prize in any industry. There is only one number one position. Most businesses are playing for the second, third and so on. That's why positioning matters.

 Avis Rent-A-Car is the best example of a brand that embraced this 100%. In 1962, they created their now iconic campaign message that said, "Avis is only No.2. So why go with us? We try harder." 

There are moments when you are heading toward some big project or prize that you have worked hard for, and someone else got it. Now you have to go on and keep winning from whatever position you now stand. 

 You have to do things you don't feel inspired to do, even when it is not the dream you were reaching for. Breakthroughs live there. 

Going to those meetings that don't feel like the ones that count. Making that next call after you just got a Titanic no. Speaking to 5 people when you really want to stand in front of 500.  

 It's tempting to treat those moments as consolation rounds.

 Mbappé and Bellingham didn't get the memo. They showed up for a bronze medal like it was gold. They set records and made football history doing it. 

 We remember and celebrate them as icons even more for that third-place performance. The final gets the headlines. But the third-place match is where you find out who someone really is when the biggest prize is already gone.

I hope, if nothing else, whether you are a football fan or not, that this will inspire you this week to play for gold in every moment because we don't ever truly know which moment holds the key to our most celebrated and iconic performance.